Murdered Soul Suspect Review (PS4)

Murdered Soul Suspect tells the tale of Detective Ronan O’Connor. Ronan is a detective in Salem Massachusetts, which during the time the game is set, a mysterious figure, nicknamed the Bell Killer is terrorizing residents within the town. Without going into major spoilers for the game, the hook here is that Ronan is murdered just moments into the game’s opening. Ronan’s death allows the player access to a host of special abilities to discover the truth of your death.
Gameplay – Playing Murdered Soul Suspect feels like LA Noire with a supernatural aspect thrown in for good measure. You explore different areas in the city of Salem, uncovering little bits and pieces of the story. There are side missions and collectibles to find, which unlock more lore about the city and it’s people. The side missions mostly consist of helping The spirits of the deceased to find their closure. The game is for the most part, puzzles and exploration, with simple combat here and there. The combat is easy and doesn’t put up much of a challenege at all. It requires you to sneak up behind an enemy and perform a quick time event. Overall the gameplay is average but some quest are pretty interesting and getting to understand more about the people of Salem makes up for it.

Graphics- Murdered isn’t a looker by any streach of the imagination. The visuals are average at best, doing what they can to get by without being amazing. Facial animation and lip sync is okay, at times it will take the player out of the moment during a emotional scene. The design and look of the world is really nice and kept me exploring every inch of Salem, parts of the city are ghost remnants of old Salem and they give the world a really interesting look and nice vibe. Graphically, Murdered is a game that while not having the most technically amazing graphics, it’s artistic style helps it to stand apart from other games. Audio- Sound design is one of Murdered Soul Suspects best aspects. The soundtrack is pretty low key for the majority of the game. The main theme is easily one of my favorite pieces of music in recent memory. The way the it slowly brings in a violin is absolutely haunting, adding even more the haunted aspects of Salem and the diverse history of the area.

Negatives- While it may seem like I loved Soul Suspect and I did, the game does have it’s fair share of issues. The way the game is designed and how the story unfolds keeps the game on a very linear path. There are times where the game opens up and allows you to explore and find collectables, the linear nature of the game makes you feel like the game is always holding your hand. The game is also lacking in difficulty, with the combat being extremely simple and posing no challenge to the player. There were times when I would get lost while exploring the world and trying to finish a main or side quest. Verdict- Murdered Soul Suspect is a game that many people slept on and didn’t think would be any good. While the gameplay is sometimes linear and not very challenging, the story is well acted and kept me interested and made me want to discover who killed Ronan. The issues that the game has may keep some people away and it’s not gonna win awards or generate massive sales, despite all these things I feel as if the game has what it takes to become a cult classic.